The Noxopharm Ltd (ASX: NOX) share price is raced higher on the open this morning. However, the Noxopharm share price has since settled down. The movement comes as a result of the clinical drug developer provided an update on its NOXCOVID trial.
At the time of writing, the share price is 2.9% higher, trading at 70 cents a share.
Drug trial advances moving the Noxopharm share price
Today's announcement from Noxopharm specified that its Veyonda drug has been approved to move to its final stage of the NOXCOVID-1 clinical trial.
The thumbs up for proceeding to the second and final stage comes after the company completed Part 1. This process involved 26 patients with moderate COVID-19 disease. As a part of the trial, Noxopharm assessed daily Veyonda doses of 400, 600, 800, 1200, and 1800 mg. It has been deemed that the 1,800 mg dosage was the most optimal. The high dosage exhibits evidence of the safety of using the developed drug.
CEO commentary
Noxopharm's CEO, Dr. Graham Kelly commented on the findings:
The high potency of Veyonda in blocking cytokine release from damaged tissue in the laboratory meant we were obliged to adopt a very cautious and methodical approach when being used for the first time in patients with poor lung function. We can now be confident that Veyonda, despite its potency, is well tolerated at a dosage we believe will be therapeutic.
The progression to Part 2 moves it closer to being an effective and safe treatment for septic shock. The company is excited about its potential, as septic shock is not only experienced by COVID-19 patients but is also one of the most common causes of human deaths in the event of infection and severe trauma.
What's next for Noxopharm?
From here, Part 2 of the trial will involve 10 to 15 patients with moderate to severe lung dysfunction.
The recruited patients will then be treated with the selected 1,800 mg dosage of Veyonda each day over 14 days.
Lastly, the company also noted:
Part 1 patient blood (Cohorts 1-4) currently is being analysed for 60 pro-inflammatory (cytokines, chemokines) factors in what the Company believes will be one of the most comprehensive analyses of its kind in COVID-19 disease.
The Noxopharm share price is now up 327% in the last 12 months. In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 9.8% over the same period of time.
